Position in chronology
MVN 18, 543
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P119904.
Transliteration
8(asz) sze gur# sze-bi [...] 1(u) 2(asz) gur a2 lu2 hun-ga2 sig4 du8-a 1(asz) 1(barig) gur a2 ad-kup4 hun-ga2 e2-kikken gibil du3-a us2-sa e2 nin-ur4-ra kiszib3 nam-sza3-tam ARAD2 ARAD2-mu dub-sar dumu ur-nigar szusz3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 18, 543. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Montserrat Museum, Barcelona, Spain (P119904) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P119904..
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Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.